deploylane 0.1.4

DeployLane - GitLab-focused deployment helper CLI

DeployLane (dlane)

GitLab-focused deployment helper CLI for deterministic CI/CD operations:

• Store GitLab credentials locally (not in repo)
• List projects
• Manage project variables via a local YAML file (export/apply/diff)
• Keep infra workflows reproducible without coupling to Git state

Important: .deploylane/ is local-only. Do not commit it.

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What is DeployLane?

DeployLane is a small CLI that sits between your workstation and GitLab:

• You log in once (PAT stored in ~/.config/deploylane/config.toml)
• You can export GitLab project variables into a local YAML file
• You can edit YAML, then apply changes back to GitLab deterministically
• You can diff local YAML vs GitLab before applying

This makes GitLab variables manageable as files, without placing secrets in app repos.

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Install

From PyPI

pip install deploylane

Run

dlane --help

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Authentication

Create a GitLab Personal Access Token (PAT)

In GitLab UI:

• User Settings → Access Tokens
• Scopes (minimum recommended):
  • read_api (for listing projects, reading variables)
  • api (required if you want to set/update variables)

If you only read, read_api can be enough. For writes, you usually need api.

Login (interactive)

dlane login --host https://gitlab.example.com

If you omit --host, it uses the default or prompts.

Login (non-interactive / CI-friendly)

export GITLAB_HOST="https://gitlab.example.com"
export GITLAB_TOKEN="glpat-xxxx"
dlane login --non-interactive

Status / WhoAmI

dlane status
dlane whoami

Logout

dlane logout

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Config & Profiles

DeployLane stores credentials locally:

• Config path:
  • ~/.config/deploylane/config.toml
• Supports profiles (e.g. default, staging, prod)

Example:

dlane login --profile default --host https://gitlab.example.com
dlane login --profile corp --host https://gitlab.example.com

Switching active profile is handled by whichever profile was last set as active (per your CLI logic).

Debug:

dlane config-show
dlane host-normalize --host gitlab.example.com

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Projects

List projects visible to your token:

dlane projects-list

Search:

dlane projects-list --search <project>

Owned only:

dlane projects-list --owned

Membership filtering:

dlane projects-list --membership
dlane projects-list --no-membership

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Variables (Project-level)

DeployLane uses a local YAML file to manage GitLab project variables.

Default file location

By default, you can keep it in the repository root but not committed:

• .deploylane/vars.yml

This is local-only state. Add it to .gitignore.

Export variables (GitLab → YAML)

dlane vars-get --project <group>/<project>

Write to a specific file:

dlane vars-get --project <group>/<project> --out .deploylane/vars.yml

If the project has no variables, DeployLane writes a demo template so you can start editing immediately.

Diff (YAML vs GitLab)

dlane vars-diff --project <group>/<project>

Use a specific YAML file:

dlane vars-diff --project <group>/<project> --file .deploylane/vars.yml

Apply (YAML → GitLab)

This will create/update variables defined in YAML.

dlane vars-apply --project <group>/<project>

Or:

dlane vars-apply --project <group>/<project> --file .deploylane/vars.yml

Current behavior: applies all entries in YAML (create/update).
Deletions are intentionally not handled yet.

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YAML Format

Example .deploylane/vars.yml:

project: <group>/<project>
scope: "*"
variables:
  PROD_HOST:
    value: 192.168.1.2
    masked: true
    protected: true
    environment_scope: "*"
  REGISTRY_USER:
    value: gitlab+deploy-token-1
    masked: true
    protected: true
    environment_scope: "*"

Notes:

• scope: "*" is currently informational (kept for future expansion).
• environment_scope controls GitLab variable environment targeting.

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Security Notes (Very important)

• Do NOT commit .deploylane/vars.yml if it contains secrets.
• Prefer storing sensitive values in GitLab variables and pulling them when needed.
• Local .deploylane/ is for deterministic management, but it’s still sensitive.

Recommended .gitignore:

.deploylane/
*.env
.env

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Roadmap (next steps)

• Safer apply:
  • --dry-run (show changes without applying)
  • --only KEY1,KEY2 (apply subset)
• Optional deletion flow:
  • explicit vars-delete KEY (single variable)
• Group/instance variable support (future)
• Deployment helpers (later):
  • ship compose / snippets as artifacts (Generic Packages)
  • deterministic server-side fetch + apply

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Development

Run locally:

dlane --help

Build (requires build):

pip install build
python -m build